As Jordan Moyer’s bid to become speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives failed to go forward, concerns about the Republican’s denials of the 2020 election surfaced.
Moyer, a fifth-term Representative from the 167th District in Pennsylvania, had been pushing for a speaker of the house position since November 2020, but it ultimately fell through when no candidate could garner enough votes.
The failure of his bid had some legislators and observers concerned over Moyer’s positions regarding the 2020 election, which were seen as indicative of an increasing denialism of the validity of the election among some conservatives. Moyer had previously expressed his belief that the 2020 elections had been rife with irregularities, even though those claims have not been substantiated by any serious investigations into the matter.
USA Today reported that Moyer had cited the “huge amount of irregularities from across the state” in an interview with WHP in December and had also said “there’s talk of tossing out the results from Pennsylvania.” In addition, Moyer had attended a rally in December to protest the election results and he wrote on Twitter that “[e]lection integrity begins with voter integrity.”
Critics of Moyer’s positions have pointed to the lack of evidence that any of the claims of irregularities he and others have made are true. They argue that denying the validity of the 2020 election, as Moyer appears to have done, serves to undermine public confidence in democratic institutions and erodes the public’s trust in the integrity of the electoral system.
This issue of election denialism has become increasingly politically fraught in the wake of the failed coup attempt at the Capitol building in Washington D.C. in January. Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed their concern over any denial of the validity of the 2020 election, arguing that doing so goes against long held democratic norms, and could set a dangerous precedent for future elections.
Moyer has since expressed his regret over his remarks and stated that he “never supported or participated in efforts to undermine the election.” Nonetheless, the concerns raised over his past statements remain, with some citing his failed bid for the speakership as evidence of the damage denialism of the 2020 election can cause.
